Mary A. Bedikian is the former district vice president for the Detroit Region of the American Arbitration Association; she worked for the organization for 28 years. Her extensive experience in ADR spans many sectors, including labor, commercial, construction, international, and employment. She has trained mediators and arbitrators in both the process and substance of ADR. In 1987, Professor Bedikian created one of the first interactive ADR courses in Michigan, which is taught at various law schools in Michigan. She served as an adjunct professor at both the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and Wayne State University Law School for more than 10 years.

Professor Bedikian is well published. In 1988, she won first prize in the Sixth Annual National Labor Law Writing Competition for her article titled “Riding on the Horns of a Dilemma: The Law of Contract Versus the Law of Public Policy.” Professor Bedikian also co-authored two practice books in ADR: Michigan Pleading and Practice, Volumes 8A and 8B (West Services, Inc.), and Michigan Practice Series—ADR (Thomson West).

Bedikian was instrumental in creating the ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She received the Distinguished Service Award in Recognition of Significant Contributions to the Field of Alternative Dispute Resolution from the section in 1999.

Professor Bedikian has acted as mediator in hundreds of cases since 1981. She was invited to be part of a special Court of Appeals mediation panel in 1994. She also has served as arbitrator in employment cases.

Professor Bedikian received her J.D. from MSU College of Law where she served on the Moot Court & Trial Advocacy Board.

ADR in the Workplace(Formerly DCL 598)
STUDENTS WHO HAVE ALREADY TAKEN ARBITRATION (LABOR) ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO ENROLL IN THIS COURSE. Arbitration of disputes arising out of collective bargaining agreements has come to be the model for resolving statutory and common law disputes that arise in the nonunion worlplace. Growing reliance on mediation and arbitration hybrids alters the role of advocates and even the definition of employee's legal rights. This course will focus on a wide range of topics-arbitrability determinations, injunctions, duty of fair representation, the doctrine of deferral, the role of external law and whether arbitrators should follow the federal law, the role of precedent in labor and employment law, discipline and discharge, past practice, seniority, management rights, subcontracting, union security agreements and their enforceability, and arbitration in the public sector. We will also examine the current criticism of labor arbitration-its efficiency, honesty and underlying ideology. Finally, we will cover the spectrum of topics associated with individual employment arbitration-judicial application of "Gilmer" and its progeny, the merits and demerits of compulsory arbitration, grievance mediation, and peer review systems.

Arbitration(Formerly DCL 569)
A course dealing with all aspects of arbitrating disputes under collective bargaining agreements, including judicial review of arbitration procedures and analyseis of the concepts applied by arbitrators in reaching their respective decisions. Students will have an opportunity to observe an actual arbitration in process and participate as an advocate in a mock arbitration.

Arbitration AdvocacyStudents will be exposed to the following topics: mandatory versus voluntary arbitration, including persuading opposing counsel to participate, preliminary pre-arbitration considerations (stages of the arbitration process: initiation, preparation, pre-hearing, hearing, decision-making, and award), selecting cases for arbitration, attorney ethics, considering site inspection and audiovisual aids, selecting expert witness, arbitrator ethics, pre-hearing advocacy (preparing the arbitration demand, drafting motions and responses, drafting position statements), the preliminary hearing (arbitrability issues, joinder of parties, witness lists, hearing exhibits, order of evidence, sequestration of witnesses, burdens of proof, subpoenas, nature and form of award), preparing for the arbitration hearing (designing a persuasive "trial story," preparing the client, and preparing witnesses/exhibits), advocacy during the arbitration hearing (procedural rules, opening statements, presentation of facts, comments on opposition's case, summary and request for relief, evidentiary rules, direct examination, cross-examination, impeachment, expert testimony, evidentiary foundations, and persuasive use of exhibits), post-hearing advocacy (drafting post-hearing briefs, motions to re-open proceedings, enforcing the award, and challenging the award).
The primary objectives of the course are to better understand the nature and practice of commercial arbitration; and to develop advocacy skills by providing "hands-on" training in commercial arbitration.
This course is restricted to students selected for the ABA Commercial Arbitration Competition.

Contract NegotiationThis course introduces first-year students to principles of negotiation. Students will be required to engage in mock negotiation exercises.

Negotiation(Formerly DCL 520)
This course introduces principles of negotiation. Students will be required to engage in multiple mock negotiations, with frequent feedback from the instructor.